


The Lucky Ones

by Ailec_12



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bickering, Bonding, Earthbending isn't the most useful skill at the South Pole, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Has Issues, Gen, Huddling For Warmth, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot, POV Toph Beifong, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29864676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailec_12/pseuds/Ailec_12
Summary: Toph and Zuko manage to get their field trip at the South Pole —kind of.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	The Lucky Ones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dorypop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorypop/gifts).



> Dorypop sent me [this prompt](https://ailec-12.tumblr.com/post/644845146870005760/hi-congrats-on-those-100-i-dont-have-a-dialogue) to celebrate 100 followers on Tumblr: _Zuko + Toph bonding over their mutual trauma? Or any type of bonding really. Maybe that life-changing trip?_
> 
> I hope I did it justice even though it didn't turn out the way I'd expected at all. Looking forward to knowing what you think!

Toph often used to grumble about not ever getting a special field trip with Zuko, but in a way she did. True, the five of them had travelled to the South Pole together, but there was no reason why getting lost should not count as a trip, right? It might not have been life-changing, though it was an intense experience for sure —others may say terrifying, but neither Zuko nor Toph had that word in their vocabulary.

It started when the inside of the communal igloo became too warm. Not hot, which was difficult given the climate, but the atmosphere was stuffy and oppressive and so, she had muttered some half-assed excuses to Katara and had bumped into Sparky at the entrance by a genuine stroke of luck. The bumping part was genuine, too. Toph had been forced to wear boots after nearly getting frostbite on her toes. That, together with the fact that she was stepping on either snow or ice, made her yearn for tricky desert sand.

Outside, the temperature dropped right away, although Zuko did not seem bothered by it, judging from the steady beating of his heart. People were also fuzzy at the South Pole, but Toph was very familiar with her friends’ rhythms and could have recognised the fire inside him no matter what. Of course, it also helped that he grabbed her at once to help her keep her balance. She did not hesitate to shake him off, either.

“If you’re thinking about mothering me, Katara’s already beat you to it,” she snapped.

“I just thought you’d rather not eat snow. Food inside is slightly better.”

His voice came from a point a bit further to her right than she expected. Once again, she cursed all the water surrounding them. She was too used to the precision that her earthbending lent her.

She scowled in his general direction and stomped away. The sound of his footsteps joined hers a second later.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“For a walk, can’t you _see_?”

“You can’t go for a walk,” he replied immediately, eliciting a scoff from her.

“Care to explain why, Your Highness?”

Zuko’s heart sped up at that. He had likely bristled at his former honorific, but Toph could not be sure. At the moment, all her focus was on avoiding tripping over the snow.

“There’s barely light and we don’t know the pl–”

“Ah, forgot it’s almost night all day long. I wonder how.”

She heard the facepalm loud and clear, followed by a whispered ‘sorry.’ Sparky was probably the faster in their group after Twinkle Toes to apologise. It had always struck her as weird, but he never failed to sound sincere —including that time, so she let it go with a huff.

“Leave me be, all right? I just need some air, won’t make any wrong turns.”

She picked up her pace until she could only feel one heartbeat.

* * *

The wind got stronger and so, louder. She realised quickly how disorientating it was and tried to go back, but it was too cold and she was suddenly too tired to fight for every step. She stopped, desperate to catch her breath. Her pathetic attempts sounded ragged. In the midst of it all, she could identify something —warm, with blood pumping through veins and coming towards her. On instinct, she moved to raise a wall between her and her attacker, but the ground did not respond. It was too far below and too frozen. She gritted her teeth to at least remain on her feet and waited.

“Toph, it’s me!” a voice yelled.

“Sparky,” she muttered, but the wind took the word away.

His heart was frantic when he reached her.

“I asked you to leave me alone,” she said, swallowing the happiness that ran through her body because she was not alone.

“Yeah, about that… Let’s make one thing clear: I didn’t follow you. I just decided I wanted to find that oh-so-special air that merits getting lost in a snowstorm.”

She frowned and pointed out,

“It’s not snowing.”

“Not yet, but something tells me it will start soon.”

Zuko was spending too much time with Katara if he truly thought he could predict snowstorms now.

“Then, we’d better head back. Air’s the same everywhere after all.” She noticed his hesitation upon hearing his intake of breath. “What?” she added, annoyed.

Again, there was no immediate response and she was freezing. She took a step forward, felt for his body and grabbed his elbow. Once she knew _exactly_ his position, she hit him square in the chest.

“Er… I’m not sure I can find our way back before the storm hits.”

Either she could feel it or she just knew it, but she was certain he was rubbing his neck in that irritating manner of his. His heartbeat was still fast and that made her slightly anxious. She had not realised how much his mere presence had helped to calm her down earlier.

“So, what do you suggest? Maybe your inner flame keeps you warm and cozy, but I’m freezing my butt off.”

Zuko sighed and kept talking in a hesitant tone that got in her nerves.

“I saw a cave a while ago. I think I know how to get there.”

“Real comforting.” She put her hands on her hips when he stood there, contemplating spirits knew what. “Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way!”

* * *

Toph supposed they had been lucky to find the cave when the snow was still falling somewhat sparsely. There was nothing to light a fire with, so all warmth came from Zuko’s flame. She could not know how big it was, but cold and humidity swept through her even though she was firmly snuggling against him. He had made no comments about it, the same way he had taken hold of her hand without a word when they had headed for the cave.

“So… Did you and Katara argue again?”

Sparky was not usually chatty and she had so far appreciated the silence that let her focus on getting warmer. It seemed Aang was rubbing off on him, though. She snorted.

“No, why d’you ask?”

His body moved when he shrugged.

“You seemed in a rush to leave the place.”

“Didn’t see you inside, either,” she retorted at once.

“I, um… I needed to think.”

“Really? That much strategy in social interaction?”

A pause and, then,

“You know what I mean.” He sounded accusatory.

Toph thought she did. She had felt his anxiety on their journey to the South Pole and his heart had sped up when they had first been introduced to the village. She had been near him, then, and had reached out to both keep her balance and check how he was doing. Zuko had squared his shoulders when Chief Hakoda’s voice reached them and had become even stiffer when it was Gran Gran’s turn. The Southern Water Tribe had not welcomed him kindly at the beginning, but the wary looks seemed to have stopped after a few days —or so Twinkle Toes had told her—, whereas the chief considered him just another guest of honour. Nevertheless, the recently crowned Fire Lord kept his guard up high around everyone but his friends.

“Nah, I don’t,” she lied, just because he was terrible at spotting her lies.

She could practically hear him grit his teeth and the silence returned for another few minutes. Outside, the storm started to rage. In the end, she was the one to break the quiet that time.

“There were too many people, I couldn’t hear anything but laughter and music. And my feet hurt from the boots,” she complained in a mumble, curling up more tightly. She was freezing and stupid Sparky’s flame was definitely not working.

“Have you told—?”

“What for? So she can baby me some more?”

“She’s not babying you, Toph. She cares for you. And I’m rolling my eyes, just so you know.”

“We’ll see if you keep rolling your eyes when we get back to real land. We have plenty of time for a match or two before you need to attend your precious duties.” He flinched and she almost felt bad for bringing it up. “Relax, Sparky. You’re here on behalf of the Fire Nation, remember? No vacation for you, just lordy work.”

He let out a long sigh.

“I know, I know. It’s just… It feels like I’m doing nothing.”

Toph chuckled, all too happy they had left behind the thing about Katara.

“That’s true. You should at least have some fun, show them people in the Fire Nation are human, too.”

For a moment, she thought he would not answer.

“I feel like that’d be disrespectful, though,” he muttered at last. His voice sounded a bit nearer, as if he had lowered his head to his knees.

She was about to ask why, but bit her lip in time. She knew the answer to that question as well and could not bring herself to deal with it at the moment. Even though she would regret going back to their previous topic, she desperately needed some distraction from the cold.

“So you’d rather be by yourself.”

He shifted and there was no hand on her shoulder all of a sudden. She had no idea how it had sneaked its way there to begin with.

“And that feels disrespectful, too,” he moaned, his voice slightly muffled.

“You’re allowed to enjoy yourself, Zuko. Sokka and Katara are happy to have you here,” she said quietly when another awkward pause threatened to become infinite.

“I know,” he repeated. He sounded frustrated and, for a glorious second, Toph felt the warmth bathe her face vigorously. “I’m just not used to it —to having fun or people that are happy to be around me. Ugh, forget it,” he added quickly, louder. “This cold is getting to me.”

She pressed herself against him more firmly, considering the words she could offer in response and the words she did not mind letting out.

“I understand,” she said after a moment too long. “They shouldn’t be, but good things are hard to accept sometimes.”

He made a soft sound to show his agreement.

“But Uncle would say that only ought to make us try harder. Well, he’d probably use a lot of words and it would make less sense.”

She smirked. She really liked Iroh —Zuko was lucky to have him and he knew.

“I’ll ask him next time. If we make it out of this, of course.”

“We will,” came his answer right away. The last syllable was drawn more than her doubts merited, in Toph’s opinion.

“You’re rolling your eyes again, aren’t you?” she snapped. The ground was nearer in the cave and she wondered for a brief moment whether spending energy on earthbending out was worth it.

He did not reply, but offered her a rare chuckle and his hand squeezed her right back against his side. She relaxed at once, deciding to hold her revenge until they were out of that damn frozen land.


End file.
